Electric progressive cavity pump

ABSTRACT

An electric progressive cavity pump system includes a progressive cavity pump in operation connection with a six-pole, three-phase electric motor. A method of producing fluid from a wellbore includes the steps of positioning a progressive cavity pump below a fluid level in the wellbore, connecting a six-pole, three-phase electric motor that includes a stator having eighteen slots and a plurality of windings distributed among the eighteen slots, wherein the windings of different phases do not pass through the same slot and operating the progressive cavity pump via the electric motor to produce the fluid from the wellbore. The electric motor may be positioned below the fluid level in the wellbore or at the surface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of, and claim priority to, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/426,667, filed Jun. 27, 2006, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general wellbore pumping systems andmore particularly to an improved electrical progressive cavity pump andmotor combination.

BACKGROUND

Conventional fluid production wells have been drilled and completed insubterranean formations often yield a desired fluid and other undesiredcomponents. For example, often in hydrocarbon wells the fluid producedwill include a large percentage of undesired water production. Oftenincluded in the produced fluids is excess solids which is detrimental orincompatible with some pumping situations. For this type wells, as wellas in other situations, progressive cavity pump (PCP) systems are thedesired method of production.

Well economics is always driving factor in determining productionsystems and the viability of a particular well. The cost of operating awell is of particular concern for wells that are candidates forelectrical progressive cavity pumps. A large portion of the productioncosts in these systems is the electrical costs and the cost ofmanufacturing and maintaining the PCP and electric motor. Typicallyelectrical PCPs are driven by two-pole motors utilizing an 8:1 gearbox.Recently, four-pole motors with a 4:1 gearbox have been utilized bySchlumberger to drive PCPs providing improved system reliabilityrelative to the two-pole motors. However, it has been realized thatadditional system reliability and efficiency is available. Further, theincreased reliability of the four-pole motors does not utilize the readysupply of the two-pole, three-phase induction motors available.

Therefore, it is a desire to provide an electrical progressive cavitypump that addresses drawbacks of the prior art electrical progressivecavity pump systems. It is an additional desire to provide an electricalprogressive cavity pump that facilitates tapping into the availablesupply of electrical motors. It is a still further desire to provide anelectrical motor that more readily operates within its ideal frequencyrange to drive PCPs than the prior electrical drive motors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an electric progressive cavity pump system and method ofproducing fluid from a wellbore is provided. An embodiment of anelectric progressive cavity pump system includes a progressive cavitypump in operation connection with a six-pole, three-phase electricmotor. In one embodiment the motor stator has eighteen slots and aplurality of windings distributed among the eighteen slots, wherein thewindings of different phases do not pass through the same slot.Desirably the eighteen slots are formed symmetrically about the motorstator.

An embodiment of a method of producing fluid from a wellbore includesthe steps of positioning a progressive cavity pump below a fluid levelin the wellbore, connecting a six-pole, three-phase electric motor thatincludes a stator having eighteen slots and a plurality of windingsdistributed among the eighteen slots, wherein the windings of differentphases do not pass through the same slot and operating the progressivecavity pump via the electric motor to produce the fluid from thewellbore. The electric motor may be positioned below the fluid level inthe wellbore or at the surface.

The foregoing has outlined the features and technical advantages of thepresent invention in order that the detailed description of theinvention that follows may be better understood. Additional features andadvantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form thesubject of the claims of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features and aspects of the present inventionwill be best understood with reference to the following detaileddescription of a specific embodiment of the invention, when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation side view of an embodiment of a electricalprogressive cavity pump system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a an elevation side view of another embodiment of aprogressive cavity pump system of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the electrical motor of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 4 is an end view of the electrical motor of FIGS. 1 to 3illustrating the coil winding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Refer now to the drawings wherein depicted elements are not necessarilyshown to scale and wherein like or similar elements are designated bythe same reference numeral through the several views.

As used herein, the terms “up” and “down”; “upper” and “lower”; andother like terms indicating relative positions to a given point orelement are utilized to more clearly describe some elements of theembodiments of the invention. Commonly, these terms relate to areference point as the surface from which drilling operations areinitiated as being the top point and the total depth of the well beingthe lowest point.

FIG. 1 is an elevation side view of an embodiment of an electricalprogressive cavity pump (EPCP) system of the present invention,generally denoted by the numeral 20. EPCP system 20 includes anprogressive cavity pump (PCP) 22 and electrical motor 24. In theillustrated embodiment, PCP 22 and motor 24 are conveyed by tubing 26into a wellbore 28. Wellbore 28 penetrates a desired subterraneanformation 30 and includes casing 32. PCP 22 and motor 24 are positionedbelow the fluid surface 34 in casing 32.

PCP 22, as is well known in the art, includes a rotor 36 and stator 38.PCP 22 commonly rotates between 300 to 400 revolutions per minute (RPM).

Electrical motor 24 is connected through a gear box 40 through a driveshaft 42 to PCP 22. Motor 24 is a six-pole, three-phase induction motordescribed in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Motor 24 is capableof operating within its ideal frequency range to drive PCP 22 thatrotates at 300 to 450 RPM with a 4:1 ratio gearbox 40.

A variable speed drive 44 positioned above ground surface 46 isconnected to motor 24 via cable 48. Variable speed drive 44 provideselectrical power to motor 24 and to control the output of motor 24(e.g., speed of rotation).

FIG. 2 is an elevation side view of another embodiment of an EPCP pumpsystem 22 of the present invention. In this embodiment, motor 24 andgearbox 40 are positioned above ground surface 46. The remainingelements of FIG. 2 have described above with reference to FIG. 1, andfor the sake of brevity are herein incorporated by reference.

FIG. 3 is an end view of an embodiment of electrical motor 24. Motor 24is a six-pole, three phase motor that has the benefit of a symmetricalmagnetic field and non-shared slots over the prior four-pole motors. Theutilization of a six-pole motor 24 of the present invention increasesrun life and motor efficiency over prior art EPCP systems.

Motor 24 includes housing 50, motor stator 52, eighteen slots 1-18, andmotor rotor 54. Stator 52 is enclosed in housing 50 and includeseighteen slots 1-18. Coil windings (FIG. 4) are installed in slots 1-18,which when conducting alternating current, induce magnetic flux throughstator 52. Rotor 54 resides within stator 52, with an air gap 56separating motor rotor 54 from motor stator 52. Rotor 54 rotates aboutaxis 58.

In the illustrated embodiment, motor 24 is a squirrel cage inductionmotor. A squirrel cage induction motor may have aluminum or copper bars60 embedded in rotor slots and shorted at both ends by aluminum orcopper end rings. Motor 24 operates by an alternating current applied tostator windings (FIG. 4), and inducing a magnetic flux (not shown) thatcorrespondingly induces a current through conducting bars 60 in rotor54. A corresponding force is generated to turn rotor 54 about axis 58.

FIG. 4 is another end view of motor 24 illustrating the coil windingsfor motor 24 to operate as a six-pole, three-phase induction motor.There are numerous ways to wind an induction motor, and providing suchan example is not meant to limit the claim scope of the presentinvention. The layout of windings in electric machines such as motor 24affects the magnemotive force (MMF) distribution and correspondingperformance of the machine. Coils of a winding can be placed in twoslots to form a winding known as a concentrated winding. Coils can alsobe distributed over more than one slot to form a winding known as adistributed winding. Machine reliability is adversely affected byplacing windings having different electrical potentials in the sameslot. Further, it may be advantageous to configure windings such thatelectrical poles formed by the windings are symmetrically positioned.

There are eighteen slots in stator 52 labeled 1-18. Stator 52 is woundto form a six-pole, three-phase, distributed winding. In each of theeighteen slots 1-18, two coil sides are placed in a double layerarrangement, one side of a coil placed at the top of one slot while theother side of the coil is placed at the bottom of another slot. Forexample, for coil a1, −a1, one side of the coil (a1) is placed at thetop of slot 2 and the other side of the coil (−a1) is placed at thebottom of slot 5. Coil sides that belong to the same phase, such as a1,a2, a3, a4, a5, a6 constitute a phase belt. Because the coils in FIG. 5span less than a full pole pitch, such a winding is commonly referred toas short pitch, fractional pitch, or chorded winding. In FIG. 4, a coilsuch as a1, −a1 spans 20 electrical degrees. Slots are arrangedsymmetrically about stator 52. This results in electrical symmetry.

From the foregoing detailed description of specific embodiments of theinvention, it should be apparent that an electric progressive cavitypump system that is novel has been disclosed. Although specificembodiments of the invention have been disclosed herein in some detail,this has been done solely for the purposes of describing variousfeatures and aspects of the invention, and is not intended to belimiting with respect to the scope of the invention. It is contemplatedthat various substitutions, alterations, and/or modifications, includingbut not limited to those implementation variations which may have beensuggested herein, may be made to the disclosed embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A submersible electric progressive cavity pumpsystem, the system comprising: a wellbore drilled from the groundsurface to a subterranean formation, the wellbore containing a fluid; aprogressive cavity pump positioned in the wellbore below the fluidlevel; and a six-pole, three-phase integer slots-per-pole ratio electricmotor operatively connected to the progressive cavity pump, wherein theelectric motor is positioned above the ground surface, the electricmotor comprising: a plurality of windings distributed among the slots,each of the plurality of windings comprising two coil sides, one of thetwo coil sides positioned in a top of one of the plurality of slots andthe other of the two coil sides positioned in a bottom of one of theother of the plurality of slots, the plurality of windings are arrangedin the plurality of slots such that electrical poles formed by thewindings are symmetrically positioned, and wherein the windings ofdifferent phases do not pass through the same slot in each of theplurality of slots.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the motorcomprises eighteen slots formed symmetrically about a motor stator. 3.The system of claim 1, further comprising a 4:1 ratio gearbox adapted tooperate the progressive cavity pump at 300 to 450 revolutions perminute.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein: the motor comprises eighteenslots formed symmetrically about a motor stator; and further comprisinga 4:1 ratio gearbox adapted to operate the progressive cavity pump at300 to 450 revolutions per minute.
 5. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a gearbox connected between the motor and the progressivecavity pump.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a gearboxconnected between the motor and the progressive cavity pump, wherein thegearbox is geared to a 4:1 ratio.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein themotor comprises eighteen slots formed symmetrically about a motorstator; and further comprising a gearbox connected between the motor andthe progressive cavity pump.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the motorcomprises eighteen slots formed symmetrically about a motor stator; andfurther comprising a gearbox geared to a 4:1 ratio connected between themotor and the progressive cavity pump.
 9. The system of claim 1, whereinthe motor comprises eighteen slots; and further comprising a gearboxconnected between the motor and the progressive cavity pump.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the motor comprises eighteen slots; andfurther comprising a gearbox connected between the motor and theprogressive cavity pump, the gearbox adapted to operate the progressivecavity pump at about 300 to 450 revolutions per minute.
 11. The systemof claim 1, wherein the windings of the same phase span 20 degrees. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the electric motor is positioned abovethe ground surface.
 13. A method of producing fluid from a wellbore,comprising: positioning a progressive cavity pump below a fluid level inthe wellbore, the progressive cavity pump connected to a six-pole,three-phase integer slots-per-pole ratio electric motor, the electricmotor comprising a plurality of windings distributed among the slots,the plurality of windings are arranged in the plurality of slots suchthat electrical poles formed by the windings are symmetricallypositioned, and wherein the winding of different phases do not passthrough the same slot in each of the plurality of slots; and operatingthe progressive cavity pump via the electric motor to produce the fluidfrom the wellbore.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the electricmotor is positioned below the fluid level in the wellbore.
 15. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the electric motor is located above a groundsurface from which the wellbore is initiated.
 16. The method of claim13, wherein the electric motor comprises eighteen slots.
 17. The methodof claim 13, wherein the operating the progressive cavity pump comprisescontrolling the output of the electric motor via electrical powerprovided to the electric motor from a variable speed drive positionedabove a ground surface.
 18. The method of claim 13, wherein the windingsof the same phase span 20 degrees.